Sheet-metal handle for shovels



(N6 Model.)

W. SHI'RRAY.

SHEET METAL HANDLE FOR SHOVELS.

Patented Apr. 5, 1898.

I ZZQ/Ve/ 72150 2 14 2/77 wn'a/ 671/21 2 M w 'UNITED/ STATES I PAT T I OFFICE.

WILLIAM SHIRRAY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

SHEET-METAL 'HANDL E FOR SHOVELS.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 601,987, dated April 5, 1898.

Application filed July 1, 1897. Serial No. 643,064. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM SHIRRAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet-Metal Handles for Shovels, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to the kind'of handles used for shovels, spades, and like implements; and the object of my invention is to make a sheet-metal handle in form like the cast-iron handle in general use and further gain an advantage over it in lightness, strength, and cost of'manufacture.

To this end my invention consists in a shovel-handle made in imitation of the castiron handle from a peculiar-shaped sheetmetal blank solely by the operations of forming bydies, all as more fully hereinafter described and shown in the drawings,in which Figure 1 represents the blank from which the handle is formed; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the handle as made from the blank.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the handle with a Fig. 4 is Fig.- 5 is a horizontal section on line y y in Fig.

grip for the hand secured thereto. a horizontal section on line 00 00, Fig. 3.

The blank from which the handle is formed is shown in Fig. 1. It is cut out of sheet metal of suitable thickness and has substantially the form of a cross, with two like trapezoidal arms a a, and two like limbs 19 1) formed with substantially parallel sides and with pointed ends terminating in circular ears 0., At the junction of the limbs with the arms the latter are provided with circular notches cl, and holes e and fare preferably made in the blank, as indicated.

In forming the handle the edges 9 of the arms are first hooked over along the dotted lines it to form the hook 41, and the whole blank is then shaped to assume the form of the completed handle. In thus forming the handle the blank is bent along the dotted lines jj in such manner that the portions k of the limbs lying between the lines j and the outer edges are turned over the'central portion between them, and thereby form the two.

side barsAA of the completed handle of the half-elliptical cross sec-tion shown in Fig. 4.

At the same time the arms a CL are pressed into half-cylindrical (or slightly conical) form and forced into complementary relation to constitute the two halves of a socket, which is then completed by engaging the hooked edges, i and flattening the seams thereby. This work of converting the blank into the handle-frame can be readily accomplished in the commercial manufacture of the article by means of dies in'such a well-known manner thatit is not necessary to further explain it.

The handle is completed by securing between the ears of the side bars a wooden gripbar 0 by means of a rivet extending through the grip-bar and ears, and to prevent it from rolling spurs m are preferably struck up near the holes f, which are pressed into the ends of the grip-bar.

My construction produces a handle which is light and strong. It has the exact form of the usual malleable cast-iron handle, which is the form most preferred by the workmen. At the same time it has, a superior smoothness, which in a castiron handle cannot be obtained unless, it be specially finished, which would make it cost too much. This smoothness is especially required on the inner surfaces with which the hand is liable to come into contact. In my construction the inner surface is absolutely continuous, and the socket is formed continuous with it. All the edges are rounding, and no manner of hard usage can make it different.

On the outside, by reason of the notches d, formed in the blank, the seams on the socket gradually slope off at the base ofthe socket, and the joint where the edges meet is flush and tight from the ears to the seams, and at the ears the edges are withdrawn from possible contact with the hand by depressing them inwardlythat is, by closing up the ends.

The seams are not only the means of firmly uniting the edges of the socket, but also form strengthening-ribs, and by making the hooks tapering the seam is more readily formed. I, however, do not intend to confine myself to this construction, but may join the'edg es by soldering or in any other known manner.

What I claim as my invention is 1. The herein-described sheet-metal blank for a shovel-handle being formed with limbs 11 and arms a arranged in the form of a cross the limbs having tapering ends terminating in circular ears f and the arms being of trapezoidal shape formed with notches (Z at the base.

2. A handle for shovels consisting of a single-piece metal blank having an elongated body portion and oppositely-arranged extensions at the center bent into a socket and united at their edges and the edges of the body portion of the blank beyond the socket being turned back toward each other and the portion beyond the socket being laterally curved, and a grip secured between the ends, substantially as described.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a shovelhandle formed of a sheet-metal blank with a socket and two side bars formed hollow and formed forming a flush joint along the center of the outer surface and a hooked seam j to form a convex outer-wall joint in the center, the inner wall being fiat and continuous and the arms a being turned over to form 2 each one-half of the vertical wall of the socket,

said arinsv being formed with tapering hooked ledges joined into a tapering seam, and a wooden grip-bar secured between the ears of the side bars.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM SHIRRAY. Witnesses:

M. B. ODOGHERTY, OTTO F. BARTI-IEL. 

